H.M.S. Spaceman, by Nat Quayle Nelson and Diane Cai

“H.M.S. Spaceman” is a medium-length, choice-based game about a trio of slacker engineers aboard a spaceship designed to resemble a human. As the game develops, the viewpoints switches around to other characters onboard the ship and their adventures.

Gameplay: The game is very light and conversational in tone, to the point where it feels more like a radio play or improv comedy skit than an interactive fiction game. The choices I made didn’t seem to change the plot substantially, but they did a few trigger different scenes. The plot and characters are a bit confusing, but the work isn’t intended to be taken seriously. 4/10.

Mechanics: The player affects the story by choosing on a menu of options, effectively pushing the characters into a new scene. Instead of a coherent story driven by the player, the game is really more of a series of vignettes the player stumbles through. 3/10.

Presentation: The jokes are too broad and slapstick for my particular tastes, but humor is very subjective. The characters in the game have distinct but simple personalities, like ones in a comedy routine. That’s fine for a game like this that’s based on fast-paced humor, but it’s hard to make that work for an entire story. 4/10.